SP Operations CCNA

A search on Amazon for 640-760 (the ccna spo exam) comes up with nothing Cisco related. Uh oh, this really is new territory. Interestingly, the CCIE SP written was very much the same. There was little to no material dedicated directly toward it.

However, Cisco does have several quizzes on their site that provides a general idea of the types of questions. I'll try to absorb this information before taking my first crack at the CCNA OPS exam, hopefully this week.

Maybe a different direction...

I keep trying to steer myself toward Security, and I can never seem to get motivated to start working on it.

The bottom line is my current role has little to do with security. I'm primarily working with service provider technologies. Little did I know just how much the SP CCIE would help me. I'm ahead of the curve now on mpls and the time and effort I put into the lab has already paid off nicely.

So, the more I think about it, combined with my current lack of motivation to get going in Security, tells me it's time to switch to another track. The new SP Operations ccie should be right up my alley. I'm sure there will be a lot of carry over from R&S and SP, and I have a bunch of NGN experience as well.

The big issue with SPO is there is practically NO training material for it yet. So I'll be running with this one almost completely on my own--at least until the training providers catch up.

So that being said, I'm going all the way down to the associate level and am beginning to study for CCNA-SPO.

Stay Tuned...

I've been busy with other things and decided to hold off on the studying for a bit. My wife and I had a baby last month, and that definitely took priority over ccie #3.

Once things start to settle down (relatively) I'll be trying to get back into the groove.

.net file for INE CCIE Security volume I

I've had a request for the .net file for volume 1. Here is what I have been using, more or less. For assistance getting the pix setup, see blindhog's blog at http://www.blindhog.net/category/pemu/

Note: I've removed the serial number and registration key. This is a linux version of the Dynagen.

begin file
----------------------------------------
model = 2620
ghostios = True
sparsemem = True

[localhost]
workingdir = /home/ccie/working

[[2620]]
ram = 64

image = /opt/images/C2600-IK.BIN
idlepc = 0x804a39b8

[[ROUTER R1]]
fa0/0 = sw 1
model = 2620

[[ROUTER R2]]
fa0/0 = sw 2
model = 2620

[[ROUTER R3]]
fa0/0 = sw 3
model = 2620

[[ROUTER R4]]
fa0/0 = sw 4
model = 2620

[[ETHSW sw]]
1 = dot1q 121
2 = dot1q 122
3 = access 123
4 = access 124
10 = access 123
11 = dot1q 1
12 = access 124


[pemu localhost]

[[525]]
#for pix 7 & 8
serial = xxx
license = 0xyyy 0xyyy 0xyyy 0xyyy
image = /opt/images/pix804.bin

[[fw fw1]]

# Connect the firewall's e2 interface to the virtual switch, which will bridge it
# to the real network
e0 = sw 10
e1 = sw 11
e2 = sw 12

INE Vol 1 Access Control and Configuring NAT Complete

Nothing too difficult here. I did run into a little bit of an issue getting DNS doctoring to work, but it was because my inspect dns was turned off. Once I got the inspect rules right, everything worked as it should.

INE Vol 1 labs underway

Over Thanksgiving I did 9 or 10 of INE's vol 1 labs. It's quite nice to have such a small topology for a change. My laptop has no problems running 3 routers and a Pix in Dynamips/pemu, which is plenty of devices for the first part of vol 1. With the SP laps I needed another dedicated box to get all 12 routers running smoothly.

I haven't really touched any security devices in a year and a half, although I did spend several years with Pix/ASAs, 3000 series vpn concentrators/clients, IDS, etc. For the most part Vol 1 is encompassing getting back in the groove on the old equipment, and is showing me how to do the CCIE level configs on these devices.

I'm really not in a rush at all. If I get Vol 1 done by the end of the year I'd be pretty happy with my progress.

And Away We Go

Two down, four to go. I don't know if I'll actually make it through all six, but continuing down the CCIE road still feels like the best road for me to follow. None of the alternatives are very appealing at this time: PhD, MBA, open source development, or CCDE. So I'll keep getting CCIEs until my priorities change.

I think I've learned a lot in the process of getting R&S and SP and can hopefully apply it to Security.

First, I tried to fly through SP way too fast. It still ended up taking about a year to complete. This is covered in rfc 1925: you can't make a baby in much less than 9 months.

Second, I should have begun labbing much sooner. Personally, I NEED experience before I get theory thrown at me. I'm not going to touch the class on demand, books, or written exam before I go through volume 1. Otherwise, the theory is over my head and I end up zoning out for much of it. I do better learning the how's first, and then getting to the why's after the fact.

Third, I need to do full scale labs from both IPX and INE before my first lab attempt. Last time I tried to just use INE first, and I had a lot of gaps going into my first attempt.

That being said, my rough schedule is something like this:
November 09 - March 10: INE Vol 1
April - May: Written
May - June: INE Vol 2
July - August: IPX Vol 2
September: Lab Attempt #1